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Lunar eclipse tomorrow

A misfortune for the country's amateur astronomers, nature lovers and celestial-event enthusiasts, the event will become visible in the UAE at 5.50 in the morning and continues through its different phases for almost five hours, finally concluding around 12 noon. The visibility of the eclipse will, however, be affected by the moonset, which occurs tomorrow around 6.25am.

Weather is also an important aspect for sky-gazers and enthusiasts, because patches of low cloud and even haze can spoil the visibility during an event.

According to the weather office at Dubai International Airport, the outlook for the next four days is fine and settled. But fluctuation in temperature and humidity levels as well as sudden haze or fog are not rare in the UAE at this time of the year.

According to UAE time, the major phases of the eclipse occur with the commencing of the partial eclipse with the first umbral contact at 4.14am. The totality, when the entire moon is in the earth's dark umbral shadow, begins at 6.23am and lasts until 7.45am. But since the moon sets barely two minutes into the beginning of totality, the rest of the event will be missed. The eclipse totality will last for one hour and 21 minutes, which is considerably shorter when compared to the total lunar eclipse of July 16, 2000, whose totality was of one hour and 47 minutes.

The eclipse occurs during the early morning hours of Thursday, October 28 for Western Europe, while for East Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, the moon will set during totality. The Indian subcontinent and China (Western part) will see only the early penumbral stages before the moonset.

• UAE